Here, we present measurements of the neutrino and antineutrino total charged-current cross sections on carbon and their ratio using the MINERvA scintillator-tracker. The measurements span the energy range 2-22 GeV and were performed using forward and reversed horn focusing modes of the Fermilab low-energy NuMI beam to obtain large neutrino and antineutrino samples. The flux is obtained using a sub-sample of charged-current events at low hadronic energy transfer along with precise higher energy external neutrino cross section data overlapping with our energy range between 12-22 GeV. We also report on the antineutrino-neutrino cross section ratio, Rcc, which does not rely on external normalization information. Our ratio measurement, obtained within the same experiment using the same technique, benefits from the cancellation of common sample systematic uncertainties and reaches a precision of 5% at low energy. Our results for the antineutrino-nucleus scattering cross section and for Rcc are the most precise to date in the energy range $$E_{\nu} <$$ 6GeV.

@article{osti_1350513,
title = {Measurement of the antineutrino to neutrino charged-current interaction cross section ratio in MINERvA},
author = {Ren, L. and Aliaga, L. and Altinok, O. and Bellantoni, L. and Bercellie, A. and Betancourt, M. and Bodek, A. and Bravar, A. and Budd, H. and Cai, T. and Carneiro, M. F. and da Motta, H. and Devan, J. and Dytman, S. A. and Díaz, G. A. and Eberly, B. and Endress, E. and Felix, J. and Fields, L. and Fine, R. and Gago, A. M. and Galindo, R. and Gallagher, H. and Ghosh, A. and Golan, T. and Gran, R. and Han, J. Y. and Harris, D. A. and Hurtado, K. and Kiveni, M. and Kleykamp, J. and Kordosky, M. and Le, T. and Maher, E. and Manly, S. and Mann, W. A. and Marshall, C. M. and Martinez Caicedo, D. A. and McFarland, K. S. and McGivern, C. L. and McGowan, A. M. and Messerly, B. and Miller, J. and Mislivec, A. and Morfín, J. G. and Mousseau, J. and Naples, D. and Nelson, J. K. and Norrick, A. and Nuruzzaman, and Paolone, V. and Park, J. and Patrick, C. E. and Perdue, G. N. and Ramírez, M. A. and Ransome, R. D. and Ray, H. and Rimal, D. and Rodrigues, P. A. and Ruterbories, D. and Schellman, H. and Solano Salinas, C. J. and Sultana, M. and Sánchez Falero, S. and Valencia, E. and Walton, T. and Wolcott, J. and Wospakrik, M. and Yaeggy, B.},
abstractNote = {Here, we present measurements of the neutrino and antineutrino total charged-current cross sections on carbon and their ratio using the MINERvA scintillator-tracker. The measurements span the energy range 2-22 GeV and were performed using forward and reversed horn focusing modes of the Fermilab low-energy NuMI beam to obtain large neutrino and antineutrino samples. The flux is obtained using a sub-sample of charged-current events at low hadronic energy transfer along with precise higher energy external neutrino cross section data overlapping with our energy range between 12-22 GeV. We also report on the antineutrino-neutrino cross section ratio, Rcc, which does not rely on external normalization information. Our ratio measurement, obtained within the same experiment using the same technique, benefits from the cancellation of common sample systematic uncertainties and reaches a precision of 5% at low energy. Our results for the antineutrino-nucleus scattering cross section and for Rcc are the most precise to date in the energy range $E_{\nu} <$ 6GeV.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.95.072009},
journal = {Physical Review D},
number = 7,
volume = 95,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {4}
}

The total cross sections are important ingredients for the current and future neutrino oscillation experiments. We present measurements of the total charged-current neutrino and antineutrino cross sections on scintillator (CH) in the NuMI low-energy beamline using an in situ prediction of the shape of the flux as a function of neutrino energy from 2–50 GeV. This flux prediction takes advantage of the fact that neutrino and antineutrino interactions with low nuclear recoil energy (ν) have a nearly constant cross section as a function of incident neutrino energy. This measurement is the lowest energy application of the low-ν flux technique, the first timemore » it has been used in the NuMI antineutrino beam configuration, and demonstrates that the technique is applicable to future neutrino beams operating at multi-GeV energies. Lastly, the cross section measurements presented are the most precise measurements to date below 5 GeV.« less

Charged-current ν μ interactions on carbon, iron, and lead with a final state hadronic system of one or more protons with zero mesons are used to investigate the influence of the nuclear environment on quasielasticlike interactions. The transferred four-momentum squared to the target nucleus, Q 2, is reconstructed based on the kinematics of the leading proton, and differential cross sections versus Q 2 and the cross-section ratios of iron, lead, and carbon to scintillator are measured for the first time in a single experiment. The measurements show a dependence on the atomic number. While the quasielasticlike scattering on carbon ismore » compatible with predictions, the trends exhibited by scattering on iron and lead favor a prediction with intranuclear rescattering of hadrons accounted for by a conventional particle cascade treatment. Furthermore, these measurements help discriminate between different models of both initial state nucleons and final state interactions used in the neutrino oscillation experiments.« less

The Fermilab wide-band antineutrino beam incident on the hydrogen-filled 15-foot bubble chamber was used to study nu-barp neutral-current interactions. The u = x(1-y) distribution is presented for both the neutral- and the charged-current data sample. Fitting the neutral-current u distribution to the prediction of a simple quark-parton model measures the Weinberg angle. By using recent measurements of the neutral-to-charged-current cross-section ratio for ..nu..p interactions (R/sub p/), we find the corresponding ratio for nu-barp interactions (R-bar/sub p/) to be 0.36 +- 0.06.